71:, he spent much time on the Reeves case. Black people were outraged by the injustice of the sentence in the case. Reeves retracted his confession, which was derived under duress. After his arrest, police strapped the terrified 16 year old Reeves to an electric chair and threatened to electrocute him unless he confessed to raping Mabel Ann Crowder as well as the reported rapes of white women that had occurred that summer. He denied for the rest of his life having had any relations with the white woman.
131:"But not only are we here to repent for the sin committed against Jeremiah Reeves, but we are also here to repent for the constant miscarriage of justice that we confront every day in our courts. The death of Jeremiah Reeves is only the precipitating factor for our protest, not the causal factor. The causal factor lies deep down in the dark and dreary past of our oppression. The death of Jeremiah Reeves is but one incident, yes a tragic incident, in the long and desolate night of our court injustice.
137:"Let us go away devoid of bitterness, and with the conviction that unearned suffering is redemptive. I hope that in recognizing the necessity for struggle and suffering, we will make of it a virtue. If only to save ourselves from bitterness, we need vision to see the ordeals of this generation as the opportunity to transfigure ourselves and American society … Truth may be crucified and justice buried, but one day they will rise again. We must live and face death if necessary with that hope".
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83:"The first time, the Court reversed the decision and turned it back to the state supreme court for rehearing. The second time, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear the case but later dismissed it, thus leaving the Alabama court free to electrocute." The governor failed to commute his sentence.
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when he was indicted in 1952 for the rape of a white woman. He was indicted, then quickly convicted at a two-day trial by an all-white jury that deliberated less than a half-hour; the judge imposed a death sentence. Members of the
African-American community were outraged at the sentence, as they knew
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was a younger classmate of Reeves and among those very upset about his case during the years that appeals were underway. On March 2, 1955, she defied
Montgomery's bus segregation rules, which required blacks to give up seats to whites in the middle of the bus once the first rows were filled. Her
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for a night until he confessed to the crime. The State held Reeves on death row after his conviction until after he reached the age of 21, considered the minimum age for execution. He was put to death on March 28, 1958, in the same chair used to extract his confession years before. Considered a
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a white woman in 1952. At the time of the events, Reeves was 16 years old, working as a grocery delivery boy; at his trial, he denied having had sex with the white woman. His sentence and execution were considered unjust, outsize for the crime, and a large protest had formed by the time he was
117:) provided funds to pay for his defense in an effort to protect the youth. Protests had arisen about his sentence, and followed his execution. Days after his execution, on Easter morning leaders of the national protest, including Rev.
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Reeves' legal appeal of his conviction and death sentence by an
Alabama State Criminal Court reached the Federal Circuit Court. One of the grounds by the defense was that the jury excluded African Americans. His case twice reached the
79:, with the high court ordering a new trial on December 6, 1954 and voting not to review an appeal on January 13, 1958, following Reeves' conviction on retrial. As King wrote in his memoir:
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Jeremiah Reeves was a 16-year-old respected senior in the segregated Booker T. Washington High School, a talented jazz drummer in a band. He was also working as a grocery delivery boy in
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to protest the segregated system. Colvin was one of four women named in the case ultimately taken to the courts, which achieved the end of bus segregation on city buses.
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exercised her right of refusal and became the point person on a civil rights challenge case in which blacks conducted the more than yearlong
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that not only were white men seldom prosecuted for rape of black women, but they never received the death sentence for such crimes.
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128:"It was the severity of Jeremiah Reeves's penalty that aroused the Negro community, not the question of his guilt or innocence.
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Reeves had claimed during his trial and appeals that he was forced to sit in the
Alabama electric chair, known as
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195:"Mar. 28, 1958 | Alabama Executes Jeremiah Reeves After Police Torture Him Into False Confession"
274:"Statement delivered at the Prayer Pilgrimage Protesting the Electrocution of Jeremiah Reeves"
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Statement delivered at the Prayer
Pilgrimage Protesting the Electrocution of Jeremiah Reeves
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victim of racism and injustice, Reeves attracted sympathy from his arrest.
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The
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (
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183:, Blog: Executedtoday.com, 28 March 2014, accessed 30 July 2014
230:"Court Dismisses Appeal Of Convicted Negro", AP report in
181:"1958: Jeremiah Reeves, Montgomery Boycott Inspiration"
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Treading the
Tightrope of Jim Crow; Montgomery NAACP.
217:"Jeremiah Reeves Wins His Appeal To Supreme Court",
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345:People executed by Alabama by electric chair
350:20th-century executions of American people
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38:drummer, who was executed by the state of
30:(1935 – March 28, 1958) was a 22-year-old
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16:African-American man executed in Alabama
325:The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks.
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160:Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
23:Jeremiah Reeves in an undated picture.
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380:20th-century African-American people
164:, New York: Macmillan, 2009, p. 23
91:action took place 9 months before
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370:American people convicted of rape
365:Executed African-American people
67:According to the memoir by Rev.
124:On that occasion, King said,
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311:, Inmates Executed in Alabama
244:Younge, Gary (15 Dec 2000).
360:Executed juvenile offenders
77:United States Supreme Court
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219:Montgomery (AL) Advertiser
51:executed, after appeals.
46:after being convicted of
355:People executed for rape
246:"She would not be moved"
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221:, December 7, 1954, p.1
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119:Martin Luther King Jr.
97:Montgomery bus boycott
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69:Martin Luther King Jr.
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232:Troy (AL) Messenger
61:Montgomery, Alabama
302:2007-07-15 at the
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309:"Jeremiah Reeves"
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32:African American
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105:Yellow Mama
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204:2023-01-16
142:References
93:Rosa Parks
55:Background
300:Archived
193:MADEO.
40:Alabama
255:29 Mar
48:raping
115:NAACP
257:2013
36:jazz
42:by
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